The Toad who leapt through Time
by CacTusLoVer27
Summary: Glow toads are not as helpless as humans think: there is a last resort, their own magic trick they can use when all is lost. Bait might not have known how difficult it would be to protect his human, but he's nothing if not determined. Sooner or later, they are going to make it.


Magic is an expression of Nature; Nature is an expression of Magic. Balance is the foremost law of the universe. The Sun and the Moon chase each other, neither as powerful as its companion is. The Land and the Ocean compete for the same territory, winning and losing over their ever-changing borders. The Sky and the Stars have a subtler relationship, both building the other up, cycle after cycle. There is balance in everything, everything but Dark Magic.

Glow toads, as one of the most preyed upon magical creatures in the world, also have one of the most powerful defenses. They can glow and blind attackers; but they can also, if the circumstances are right, jump into the has-been to avoid danger entirely. It's a matter of activating such ability in time to be useful.

It's almost completely by instinct, the first time Bait jumps. Bait doesn't realize at that moment how very lucky they have been, all five making it as far as the Breach before Sunsies ambush them, until he has to make sure they repeat this feat.

Over and over Bait jumps and lives, he watches and acts. There's not much a single toad can do, but he can do some things: It's a matter of finding the tipping point, the instance where he or his charge die, and avoiding it in the next run.

Frowny-horns' invasion, for instance. Bait can lead Cuddles into safety easily enough, but that jump is always short and bloody. If they aren't there, Cuddles survives, but his family dies; rather, Jerkface dies. If Bait is lucky, Cuddles is too far to hear and never learns of the conversation that ends in the sacrifice of kin. In those runs he retains some innocence and, when he's betrayed and killed himself, at least his hands are unsoiled. Otherwise, his anger is swiftly ignited and spreads like a bonfire. No matter what Bait tries, that always ends with Sneery-meanie fanning a need for revenge in his charge that in time burns the world down.

But Bait can't afford to rush to the portrait, either. If Frowny-horns isn't stalled by confusion over Jerkface's lie, she can't be convinced to follow them down the passage, and no jump that goes like that occurs where they survive the night.

When Cuddles prompts him, Bait flashes a bit softer that he could, so that Frowny-horns will recover in a few seconds and follow. Bait knows that once she sees the Prince, she never attacks them again, which is good (even if it's annoying to keep being called a frog). What isn't good is that if Frowny-horns sees the Prince, then Clutz sees him too, and once she does she always attacks them.

Still, Cuddles survives more often if Frowny-horns and not Clutz travels with them. If humans tried to understand him harder, maybe Bait could have made both travel with them, but he can't, and if he tries to have Cuddles translate his words, something _always_ goes wrong. Clutz loses her hold on the lighting or Frowny-horns tries to leave with the Prince alone or Sneery-meanie comes back and catches them. So Bait gives up and lets Cuddles take him away.

After that, the rest of the night is a frustrating mess of possibilities that Bait hardly knows how to navigate. Frowny-horns always wants to talk to the Moonsie, but they always fight. Jerkface always leaves to look for Annoying, but never finds him. There's an eight-in-ten chance she'll come back, and a seven-in-ten chance he'll come back. Bait prefers it when they come back, especially when they are whole and unhurt. Jerkface is very very good at keeping Cuddles alive even if he doesn't know it, and Frowny-horns is very very good at keeping Jerkface alive.

Then, there's a small, small, small chance that Jerkface and Frowny-horns will leave them and return to the tower. Bait has gotten very far in that jump. When the dawn breaks, he takes Cuddles to the fun-and-snowy place so they meet Scary Lady and Flappy Hands. Scary Lady listens and takes very good of care of Cuddles. She scares Sneery-meanie, the Sunsies and the Skiesies, and helps the Prince return to his mother from the lava-place. For a few seasons there's peace but then people stop being scared of Scary Lady, and war breaks out.

Bait is only a tiny little bit relieved the next jump, when Jerkface and Frowny-horns run away with them.

The fun-and-snowy place is not as fun out of winter, nor when Scary-Lady appears. Bait has learnt that she can't help them, even when she wants to: she is just one lady just as he is one toad, but she ignores this and always tries to do too much, like when he tries to carry a lot of yummy-tarts and ends up dropping all of them. With Jerkface and Cuddles' help he can save Frowny-horns nearly all of the time but they must leave alone.

When they make it that far, Bait always feels bad about provoking the mountain and hurting the Prince, but he has to do it. Snow is good for covering tracks when it falls all over and if the Prince is okay, they don't go up the Spidey-nest. Bait thinks maybe there's a different way that doesn't hurt anyone, but he's not so smart. Bait is also very small. Without snow, Birdie will find them and kill the Prince or Frowny-horns and they never leave the humans' land. Without Glowy-Spidey Lady, Jerkface doesn't break his shiny ball and the pretty pink light doesn't fade so Clutz and Meanie catch up and Cuddles or the Prince or Jerkface die.

There's also a one-in-eighteen chance that Birdie will stop long enough to listen and a two-in-sixteen chance that Clutz and Meanie will let them all go, but Bait doesn't know what to do to make that happen, and he has learned not to risk it. Clutz always smells spookier in those meetings and Bait has never liked Meanie anyway.

The ice is trickier. Bait has tried but tackling the Prince away is useless and the egg is so much bigger than him that he can't grab it once it's in the water. Of the other three, Cuddles is usually the fastest to dive if he doesn't move and, eventually, Bait realizes he has the best chance out of them all. Cuddles can hear the Prince's voice and has opposable thumbs; and after all, Bait can trust Jerkface and Frowny-horns to change Cuddles' second-skin, quickly find shelter and fire and take care of them without problem.

And at least, when the five survive the ice, the human settlement is rarely ever a problem. Plus, he likes Ava and Chirpy-voice. Ava guesses what he is doing, sometimes, which makes things a bit easier. In all, Bait relishes the time on the Spidey-nest, because they so rarely fail there, he only has to look out for the leeches and by that point his humans are strong enough that they can almost always survive when they work together.

Some runs, Bait is so tired that he wants to stop jumping and rest. But resting means there won't be any more chances. Bait's the oldest one and has to protect his family. After all, Bait wants Cuddles to be wrinkly and happy. Bait also wants the Prince to rule and be happy, and for there to be no more fighting. Over the jumps Bait has come to realize he wants Jerkface and Frowny-horns to be happy for a long, long time too, even if they are rude and shouty.

So Bait keeps trying, reaching a bit further with every jump. One day, he's sure to reach the other side.


End file.
